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two tightly drawn pigtails were becoming painful. “Cheer up,” she advised the woebegone Terry dryly. “From what Monte says, we’ll be so excited that a lost date will mean nothing to you.”
    “A lost date always means something to me,” Terry retorted with a wince. “We’re not all long-lost virgins, you know.” She studied Vickie curiously for a moment as if seeing her for the first time. “I guess you can’t be that though. I mean, Mark does exist. Whatever did happen to Mr. Langley?”
    “Coffee anyone?”
    Vickie glanced at Bobby with sheer gratitude for his timely arrival. “I’d love some!” she proclaimed. “In fact, you and Terry go sit—I’ll get the coffee.”
    She hurried into the vast kitchen, exchanging friendly words with the waiters and waitresses she passed. Pouring three cups of coffee, she drew deep breaths before returning to the dining room now peopled only by the cast and a few scattered restaurant employees finishing up with their tables.
    Why couldn’t she just be blasé and tell the truth? There was no Mr. Langley, never had been, except in the telephone book, and her finger had simply fallen on the name.
    She hadn’t cared then, not about much of anything. Her mother, gently proving her love and her mettle, steered her on a course of action. “Victoria, your father and I can’t force you to do anything. You won’t tell us the name of the father, and I’m sure you have your reasons. But you want to keep your baby and I can’t say that I blame you. I could have never given away a piece of myself either. But honey, let us help you! I know you think your life is over; it’s not. For your own sake and that of the baby, go away for a year. Take on another name. Dad and I still want you to follow that dream, to make it as an actress.”
    There had been no recriminations, no harsh words, judgment, or disappointment. And so emerged Mr. Langley, and a Victoria Langley who learned to appreciate the kindness and wisdom of her parents. She had the baby without ever breathing the truth of his paternity. After the birth she immediately auditioned for a South Carolina summer stock company and earned the role of Juliet. And it was there that Monte found her again on one of his talent-seeking trips, unable to believe that the girl had changed so drastically in a single year. Sometimes it amazed her that she seemed so terribly different from other young women her age. But then, she had had little to do in that year except wait and change, reconcile and mature.
    “You know, Vick,” Bobby said as she set the coffee before them and sat down. “You really are amazing. Thanks.”
    “Too good to be true,” Terry interjected dryly.
    “The beautiful green eyes of jealousy!” Bobby teased. He loved to irritate Terry. “Vickie, won’t you reconsider and marry me? I’m really such a nice guy!”
    Bobby asked her to marry him at least once a month. It was a standing joke between them. “Let me sweep you into my arms and take you away from all this,” he continued dramatically. “I promise to make you forget all about the mysterious man in your past who holds your heart away from us all.” He ended his comical speech by grabbing her hand and pressing his forehead into it.
    “Bobby,” Vickie moaned, “will you stop it? Monte is going to walk in any moment with our overly prized artist, and we’ll look like a couple of idiots!” And besides, she thought, no one would ever make her really forget the man in her past. In three years she hadn’t managed to forget him.
    She had hated him enormously at times, but she knew there would never be another like him, never be another man who could send her to heaven with the slightest touch, command her love and respect with a single whisper, whose lean, tall frame could send shivers down her spine with mere memory.
    “Where the heck is Monte?” Terry complained irritably. “If he doesn’t show up soon, I’m leaving!”
    As if on cue, Monte